1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antibacterial glass composition and an antibacterial polymer composition using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Antibacterial resin products using inorganic antibacterial agents such as zirconium phosphate, silver zeolite and soluble glass in which silver is retained have been widely used for home appliances used in bathrooms, lavatories and kitchens.
The soluble glass is a generic name of a glass in which the composition of the glass has been adjusted so as to exhibit a controlled rate of solution considering physical and chemical properties of the glass. It is known in the art that the glass containing elements such as silver, copper and zinc compounds having an antibacterial function can discharge the silver, copper and zinc ions at a given speed for an arbitrary period of several hours to several years. The discharged silver, copper and zinc ions are adsorbed on cell walls of bacteria and other microorganisms, or concentrated into the cells to exhibit antibacterial actions by inhibiting growth of the bacteria and microorganisms by a so-called oligodynamic effect. This soluble glass has been used in the entire field using antibacterial agents, and is formed into composites with synthetic resins and textiles. Various methods developed for forming the composite comprise producing final products by kneading the antibacterial soluble glass into raw materials before molding, and adhering the antibacterial soluble glass on the products as post-processing.
Such soluble glasses known in the art include borosilicate glasses mainly comprising SiO2 and B2O3, and phosphate glasses mainly comprising P2O5. Particularly, the soluble phosphate glasses are widely used since silver, copper and zinc ions are quite stable in the glass and the glass can contain a large quantity of these ions. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. H07-300339, 08-012512 and 08-048539, and Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 2001-247336 disclose the antibacterial agents using the soluble phosphate glasses containing silver ions (Ag+ ions). Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. 2001-247336 particularly discloses antibacterial polymer compositions prepared by forming a composite of an antibacterial glass composition with a polymer material.
However, antibacterial effects are hardly exhibited in the products obtained by adding the above antibacterial agent in the polymer materials or polymer materials containing inorganic fillers (for example, materials used for artificial marble), although the reason thereof is not clear. Accordingly, a lot of the antibacterial component should be added in such products. However, increasing the amount of addition causes high production costs while readily arising color changes due to metal ions such as the silver ions in the inorganic antibacterial agent, thereby damaging the external appearance of the product.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an antibacterial glass composition that provides high antibacterial performance and sufficient durability of the performance even when a small amount of antibacterial components are added, and to provide an antibacterial polymer composition using the antibacterial glass composition.